The Information Desk at Hamilton Library at the University of
Hawaii at Manoa is the first contact point for library users and
is situated near the building entrance. Its function is to answer
questions about the UHCARL online catalog and the location of
materials and facilities in the Library. Farther into the heart
of the building, the Librarys Reference Desk makes available
indepth research and reference assistance. Graduate students do
fieldwork at the Information Desk for a required reference course
in their first semester at the University of Hawaii School of
Library and Information Studies (SLIS). This exposure to public
service work is a benefit to the Library, a benefit to the SLIS
program, and a big benefit to the students themselves.

This unique program actually arose out of a combination of factors.
In the early eighties, budget cuts forced staff cutbacks in the
Library, adding pressure to an already busy staff at the Reference
and Information Desks. They were ready to welcome an offer of
help. Dr. Therese Bissen Bard who was teaching the SLIS introductory
reference course at the time, approached the library administration
with a request that SLIS students be allowed to serve on the Information
Desk as a required component of the course. The SLIS faculty felt
that with adequate training, the students would have a good opportunity
to tie class work to experience with information work. A pilot
program began in 1986 and has continued to evolve since that time.

The purpose of the Information Desk is to handle directional,
referral, and online catalog questions. These questions are often
repetitive and do not demand professional attention, despite the
fact that they occupy much of a librarians time. SLIS students
can master this knowledge rapidly because it encompasses a restricted
and specific portion of the librarians total knowledge.
This report describes the cooperative project and presents the
results of an evaluation of the SLIS students work on the
Desk.1

Information Desk Training

The students are given special training to allow them to perform
their duties at the Desk. They receive a copy of a specially prepared
handout, the Information Desk Reference Manual. They
are required to take themselves on a selfguided tour of
the Library, following information given in the handout along
with floor plans of all six floors. Online catalog training on
the UHCARL system involves a selfinstructional handout, the Basic
Library Skills Workbook, exercises, and two training sessions
in the electronic classroom that include demonstrations by the
Head of the Reference Center and the Information Desk Coordinator
and hands-on work by the students. The Coordinator also gives
a presentation on communication skills to acquaint students with
some of the situations they may experience with library users.

After the initial training sessions, when they begin at the Desk,
the students are assigned for their first four hours to assist
the paid SLIS interns who regularly staff the Desk. Following
this, the students work a minimum of 16 hours more on their own
or with other SLIS students. Some continue to work more than the
required hours because they enjoy the experience so much.

Throughout the semester, the training is reinforced by the SLIS
professor as students discuss situations arising from their experiences
at the Desk. Additionally, there are classroom practice sessions
for reference interviewing and reference problem solving. Throughout
the semester, the Information Desk Coordinator keeps the professor
abreast of any new information or changes within the Library.

The Information Desk Experience

After instruction on what to record, students keep journals about
their activities at the Desk, and use these to help write reports
of their experience. The reports include an analysis of two of
their reference interviews, followup on several questions so that
they experience the entire process from the users point
of view, and a statement of their own personal reference service
philosophy. Much of the data which follow were extracted from
these reports.

Since they are new to the library, a majority of students report
that they begin their Information Desk experience with some apprehension,
though they are instructed not to do reference work, and to refer
everyone who needs more indepth assistance to the reference librarians.
However, they quickly master the library locations and basic UHCARL
commands, and despite the restricted set of questions dealt with
at the Desk, they find much variety and interest in the questions
themselves.

A great deal of the work at the Desk involves helping library
users to become familiar with the UHCARL online catalog. This
includes familiarizing people with the basic commands, record
structure, and search strategies. It also involves showing some
of the different databases available through the UHCARL system
such as Uncover, ERIC, Bishop Museum, Hawaii Pacific Journal Index,
etc. Accessing each of these databases requires a different technique
of navigating the system.

Most of the directional questions are of a specific nature and
usually require familiarity with the physical layout of the Library.
These include questions like where is the closest rest room, the
Asia Collection, the Xerox machines, etc. Some questions require
familiarity with the collections, such as where are the tax forms,
the encyclopedias, the current periodicals, where can I find this
call number, etc. On certain occasions, a question will lead the
student to a more extensive interview; for example, where can
I find books on the problem of AIDS. This kind of question requires
identifying the particular aspects of the problem library users
are interested in and leads the students into their first experiences
with reference interviews. After an initial search in the online
catalog, such questions are referred to reference librarians.

During the 20 hour experience at the Desk, the SLIS students are
exposed to a variety of library users needs and meet a variety
of people. While the majority of their reports describe how grateful
the public is for the help received, several students comment
on situations that were not as happy, for example, complaints
about the problem of not being able to find books on the shelves,
and other frustrations in information retrieval.

SLIS students learn that there are a few basic things to do which
can help both staff and library users. One is to be available
for service; that is, not to be busy with other work. They further
learn that it is very important to appear approachable by smiling,
being friendly, maintaining eye contact, and appearing eager to
help. In other words, they discover that they can influence the
success of their duties by practicing communication skills in
addition to library research skills.

Students report that many library users seem nervous when approaching
service points for help, saying, I dont want to ask
a stupid question, but.  The students have a special
value here, since they are new to the Library themselves and can
empathize with such users. The fact that they know more than the
average user also gives them a chance to appreciate just how valuable
their help can be to the public.

Working with experienced SLIS interns gives the students another
kind of exposure to public service. They can learn about the job
from someone who is working in the position, whose practical knowledge
complements the theory and cases studied in the reference course.

Evaluation of the Information Desk Fieldwork

Some librarians were concerned that staffing the Information Desk
with SLIS fieldwork students might result in diminished service.
Therefore it became important to show that SLIS students with
training could provide service comparable to that given by the
regular staff, when answering directional and online catalog questions
and referring users to the appropriate reference desk.

In reference work, the wellknown 55% rule states that reference
librarians are accurate half of the time with answers to ready
reference questions.2 In contrast to this, Beth Woodard reported
that the accuracy rate for the SLIS students she tested was around
70%a rather favorable comparison.3 For students who are
involved in active learning processes, like the UH SLIS group,
it has been found that

subjects who learned in order to teach were more intrinsically
motivated, had higher conceptual learning scores, and perceived
themselves to be more actively engaged with the environment than
subjects who learned in order to be examined.4

A research project was designed to further evaluate the quality
of services given by the SLIS students at the Information Desk
relative to that provided by the experienced staff.5 In addition
it sought to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Information
Desk fieldwork experience in enhancing the students knowledge
compared to students who took reference course work only. The
project is reported in detail elsewhere6 and is summarized below.

The Test

A multiplechoice test was created to assess the students
knowledge and attitudes. The questions were derived from Information
Desk training materials and from student reports of previous semesters.
They covered the location of materials and services, online catalog
knowledge, search strategy, reference interview skills, and service
attitudes and philosophy.7

Three groups were compared. In Spring 93 fourteen Hamilton
reference librarians took the test. Two groups of students were
involved. Fifteen Spring 93 students took a pretest
in the first meeting of the reference class and, after completing
both reference course work and also undergoing the Information
Desk training and experience, took a posttest at the end
of the semester. Twentyfive Summer 93 students took
the pretest, and after the same reference course work but
without the Information Desk assignment, took that posttest.8
The students from both groups typically had little experience
with online searching, and prior to their first test had taken
fewer than two SLIS courses.

Results

It was expected that the students scores for both the Spring
and Summer 93 pretests would be similar to those for
the students tested in Fall 92, around 50%, compared to
around 90% for the librarians. This was the case: the Spring group
averaged 64%, the Summer group averaged 56%, and the librarians
averaged 89%. The 8% difference between the pretest scores
for the two student groups is not statistically significant; whereas
the 25% and 33% differences between pretest scores for the
respective student groups and the librarians are statistically
significant.9 Figure 1 illustrates these results.

FIGURE 1

Gain in Students Proficiency Relative to Librarians

While both groups of students improved their scores on the posttest,
there are significant differences between the average scores of
the (Spring) fieldwork students (87%) and the (Summer) courseonly
students (74%). Comparison between the average scores of the fieldwork
students and the librarians shows that there is only a 2% difference
which is not statistically significant, whereas the 15% difference
between the courseonly students and the librarians is significant.
The 13% difference between the average scores of the fieldwork
students and the courseonly students is also statistically
significant. The results of the evaluation project indicate that
the fieldwork students are approaching the standardized knowledge
of the professional librarians for this service point, while the
courseonly students did not achieve the same level of proficiency.

Benefits

The students appear to learn more and consistently describe the
fieldwork as one of the most valuable parts of their education.
They often comment that they will feel more comfortable beginning
their first job because they have had the systematic public service
experience. Typical quotes from some of their final reports illustrate
how strongly affected they are by the experience.

The Information Desk is that place to establish some sort of
middle ground (between people who are worried about asking dumb
questions and those who think that librarians know everything
and anything available in the Library), to let the patrons know
what the library can do for them, and what it cannot, and at the
same time, make them comfortable and welcome.

I found that working at the Information Desk offered a fine opportunity
for experiential learning. It provided a certain amount of stress
necessary to force me to learn new skills and to actually use
what was taught in the classroom.

The experience also enabled me to learn more about the Library
profession, not only from the patrons point of view, but
also from the staffs.

It provided me with experience in dealing with people that I
couldnt have obtained otherwise. I became more sympathetic
to patrons needs and anxieties it will shape my attitude
it is a reminder of what the ultimate concern should be:
the patron.

The results of this project confirmed that the Information Desk
fieldwork requirement succeeds in promoting the standardization
of the graduate students knowledge more than the reference
course alone. SLIS faculty and Hamilton librarians view such fieldwork
as an essential component in the education of future reference
librarians. Through the training and fieldwork, SLIS students
are able to acquire the knowledge and attitudes necessary for
providing basic Information Desk service. Thus, they are better
prepared to enter the profession and serve the public.

1. A 1992 survey of ALA accredited programs shows that this school
is the only one using this kind of required fieldwork, though
others use students after their first reference class. See Kimberly
L. Nakano and Janet Morrison, Public Service Experience in the
Introductory Reference Course: A Model Program and Survey of Accredited
Library Schools, Journal of Education for Library and Information
Science 33(2) (Spring) : 110128.

5. Funding for the project came from The Research Relations Fund
of the University of Hawaii.

6. For a full description of the evaluation project and results
from the Fall 92 tests, see Diane Nahl, Ann Coder, Janet Black
and Margie Smith, Effectiveness of Fieldwork at an Information
Desk: A Prototype for Academic LibraryLibrary School Collaboration,
Journal of Academic Libraries, in press.

8. Students taking the course during the regular Spring semester
would have served as a better control group, however there is
an ethical problem in withholding valuable experience from them.
None of the students in the short intensive summer session course
was required to undertake a fieldwork experience as it could not
be offered within the limited time frame.

9. The student and librarian scores were analyzed using ANOVA
and paired t tests on both the pre and posttests to
assess the changes and differences among the groups.